ESSAYS ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION PROVIDING A KEY TO ITS UNDERSTANDING

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Essays On The Book Of Revelation Providing A Key To Its Understanding

With Commentary

A Preterist Interpretation

Alan Nairne

Section A. Outlining The Problems

I. Introduction p.1

II. The Broad Canvas p.2

A. Historicist p.2

B. Dispensational/Futurist p.2

B (i) Problem #1 with the futurist interpretation – anachronism p.3.

B .(ii) Problem #2 with the futurist interpretation – futurism p.4

B.(iii) Problem #3 with the futurist interpretation - literalism p.4

C. Preterist p.5

Section B. Toward An Answer

I. The apocalypse – its links with Daniel and Matthew p.6

A. Daniel p.7

B. Matthew 24 and parallels p.9

II. Dating the Book of Revelation

The late dating

i. Irenaeus’ testimony p.11

ii. Emperor worship p.12

iii. Persecution p.12

iv. The “Nero redivivus” myth p.12

v. The “Developed” churches p.13

a) Laodicean “wealth” p.13

b) The non-existence of the church in Smyrna p.13

c) The spiritual decline of the churches p.13

Conclusion p.14

The early dating

a) External evidence

i. Scholarly support p.14

ii. Church Fathers’ testimony p.14

b) Internal evidence

i. Time frame texts – “this generation” etc. p.15

ii. The Temple in existence p.15

iii. The sixth head is Nero p.15

iv. The 3-1/2 years is the Jewish War of 64-68AD p.16

v. Nero’s death is foretold p.16

vi. The “Mark of the Beast” identifies Nero p.16

vii. The fulfilment of events following Nero’s death p.17

Objections by late-date holders

i. Double fulfilment p.17

ii. Irenaeus’ omission of Nero as “Beast” p.18

iii. The use of a Hebrew cryptogram p.18

The early-date authorship secured p.18

Section C. Comments Upon The Main Book P.18

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 An unveiling for the immediate future p.19

1.5a “. . .from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness. . .” (v.5). p.19

1.5b “. . .and the first begotten of the dead. . .” p.20

1.5c “. . .the Prince of the kings of the earth. . .” p.20

1.7 The theme of the Book p.21

1.7a “Coming on the clouds” p.22

1.7b “tribes” p.23

1.7c “earth” p.232

Chapter 5 p.24

Chapter 6

“The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” p.24

The close relationship with the “Little Apocalypse” of the Synoptics p.24

The four horsemen and horses p.25

The martyrs cry for vengeance, and the “collapsing universe” p.26

Chapter 7

The sealed of Israel (vv.1-8) p.26

The numberless multitude (vv.9-17) p.27

The “Great Tribulation (v.14) p.28

Chapter 8

The Golden Altar of Incense (v.3) p.29

Remarks upon the Trumpets p.30

The first trumpet (8:6-7) p.32

The Second Trumpet (8:8-9) p.32

The Third Trumpet (8:10-11 p.33

The Fourth Trumpet (8:12-13) p.33

Chapter 9

The Fifth Trumpet (9:1-12) p.33

The Sixth Trumpet (9:13-21 p.34

Chapter 10

The Strong Angel with the Little Book (10:1-11) p.34

Chapter 11

The Two Witnesses (11:1-14) p.35

The Earthquake and the Seventh Trumpet (11:15-19 p.36

Chapter 12

The Sun-clothed Woman; her Seed and the Dragon (12:1:17) p.37

Chapter 13

The Beast from the Sea (13:1-10) p.38

The Beast from the Earth (13:11-18) p.39

Chapter 14

The 144,000 (14:1-5) p.40

The Gospel is Preached, the Fall of Babylon Announced, and the followers of the

Beast Warned (14:6-12) p.40

The Son of Man; Harvest and Vintage (14:14-20) p.42

Chapter 15

The Song of Victory over the Beast (15:1-4) p.42

The Heavenly Temple is Opened (15:5-8) p.42

The Seven Last Plagues Pictured as Bowls (15:1-21) p.43

Chapter 16

The first Bowl-plague (v.2) p.43

The second Bowl-plague p.43

The third Bowl-plague p.43

The fourth Bowl-plague p.43

The fifth Bowl-plague p.44

The sixth Bowl-plague p.44

The seventh Bowl-plague p.46

Chapter 17

The Harlot Riding the Beast (17:1-7) p.46

The Mystery of the Beast Explained (17:8-18) p.47

Chapter 18

The Fall of Mystic Babylon (18:1-24) p.47

Chapter 19

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb (19:1-10) p.48

The Word of God goes to War (19:11-16) p.49

The Disposal of Israel (19:17-18) p.50

The Disposal of the Beast and the False Prophet (19:19-21) p.50

Chapter 20

Satan Bound (20:1-3) p.51

The Enthroned Church (20:4-6) p.51

The Final Rebellion (20:7-9) p.52

Chapter 21

The Great White Throne (20:11-15) p.52

The City, the Bride and All Things New (21:1-8) p.53

The New Jerusalem and Paradise Restored (21:9-22:5) p.54

Chapter 22

Concluding Exhortations (22:6-21) p.54

Bibliography p.55

Alan Nairne January 2007

* * * * * * *

Section A – Outlining The Problems

I. Introduction

I have not been bold enough to entitle this paper the key to the understanding of the Book of Revelation. Nevertheless, I do believe that this is true. Having said this, I do not pretend that it is an easy book to understand. It is, after all, a document emanating from an age far removed from our own. It is couched in Middle Eastern thought forms which are very alien to our own. It is highly symbolic; so foreign to our own mode of thought. It is addressed to people of a culture very different from our own, in circumstances which we in the favoured west cannot parallel in our own experience.

Yet, for all that, it is an apocalypse – an unveiling. It is a personal message from the Lord Jesus Christ to His people. It was meant to be understood by the original addressees, and by the people of God down the ages. It is Holy Writ. Inspired by God for the blessing of all who read, hear and keep the things which are therein written (Rev.1:3).

It is clear that the imagery reflects much that is found in the Old Testament, and therein must lay a clue. If we interpret the OT correctly – and the NT guides us in this - we stand a chance of interpreting the book of Revelation correctly.

What I have just said, and, indeed, the very title of this essay suggests the question – well, who says that we do not understand it?!! I remember as a late teenager that I read my first second hand expository book on the Revelation – Fred Tatford’s Prophecy’s Last Word. There – that dates me!! This, with the Scofield Reference Bible at my elbow made me the complete, authoritative Bible teacher on prophetic matters! Perhaps the majority of Christians who have adopted that Dispensational scheme have never had it challenged. I trust such will be readers of this essay.

The first section of this paper will be devoted to a number of essays establishing the reasons for believing that the Preterist interpretation is the correct one. In the second section I hope to deal with all the major sections of the book of Revelation, but I will not call this paper a commentary, for, although it will handle topics in chapter order, it will not deal with every verse. Neither am I bold enough to claim it to be definitive. But after many years in testing the merits of prophetic schemes, and eliminating those with serious defects, I am confident enough to put something into writing which I believe, in principle, is reliable, and I trust will be of help to my readers in spurring them on to delve into the subject in volumes that deal with the issues far more deeply than I can do in this paper.

The Preterist case has been strong enough to persuade me to accept a change from what I previously held. How about you, my reader? Are you that sort of person – who is willing to change if his/her position is weaker than that which I will set out? Or are you the sort who fights tooth and nail on a position you have held all your life – perhaps an interpretation held by the majority, and your peers in particular? If you are this latter type of person, I cannot think that after all this time I could shift you from your dearly held position. You are safe where you are – stay there. But if you are open to consider what may be the truth of the matter of the Book, hang in, as they say.

II. The Broad Canvas

Several systems of interpretation have held the field in popularity at different periods of time. One of these is the

A. Historicist

This system of interpretation emerged during the time of the Reformation, and saw the Papal system as the “Beast” of the Book of Revelation. This interpretation was very popular perhaps up to the early decades of the last century, but has now fallen into disfavour. No doubt the very clever chronological cycles as set out by H Grattan Guinness in the late nineteenth century captivated a certain type of mind, and perhaps during the days of its popularity the earthquake which shattered Lisbon, the rise of Charlemagne, and Napoleon, and the Popes, together with the fortunes of the Saracen empire impressed those who love history, and thought that they saw it all foretold in the Book of Revelation. But these events pale into insignificance when set against the earth shattering events of WWI and the upheavals of the 20^th Century. How true it is also, compared with the events depicted under the symbolism of the Book itself - as someone has written – the events of the middle ages all now sound like “stage thunder”. Biblically, they cannot be sustained, and the scheme of interpretation has now fallen out of favour.

The most popular view today, held tenaciously today by millions of sincere Bible-believing evangelical Christians is that expression of the Futurist premillennial scheme of interpretation known as the Dispensationalism.

B. Dispensational. This system of interpretation came into being around about 1830 from the writings of one John Nelson Darby, one of the early members of the Plymouth Brethren in the UK. It was rapidly adopted by that movement and was soon supported by a vast volume of expository writings. This flow began then, and following the publication of the Scofield Reference Bible in 1917 it became a torrent, and today there seems to be no end to the volume of publications supporting this view.

Insofar that it has been grafted into the historic Premillenial system of interpretation, it can lay claim to credibility. But the ideas developed after 1830 are far reaching and extensive, and put the system in a category of its own.

At this point we must ask ourselves, is it really so that such an important feature as that of the rapture of the Church will take place before the tribulation commences some seven years before the Second Coming of Christ takes place had to await the 19^th century before being discovered? On this score alone it needs to be carefully examined.

Again, by relegating chapters four to nineteen of the Book of Revelation to the future period of the Great Tribulation, it promises that the Church will escape that time. I wonder what Christians in North Korea (if ever they have been exposed to this system of thought) would think about that? Or the Christians in what was Soviet Russia who endured generations of persecution? Persecution and tribulation is the natural environment of the Church existing as it does in a hostile world. We bless God for the surroundings of tolerance that we enjoy with the limitless opportunities of spreading the Gospel. But let us not think that it is our inalienable right, for God to bring us out of tribulation. It is, rather, His purpose to bring us through it.

Yet it is true to say that most conservative evangelicals accept this scheme. Yes, it is attractive for many reasons. One which we must not ignore is the inveterate curiosity of the human mind to know the future. Some aspects of Dispensationalist exposition have been little better than fortune telling. In the USA at least it has a fairly recent history of date-setting for the Second Coming of Christ, all of which (surprise, surprise!!) have proved false.

Another attraction is its frequent appeal to Holy Scripture, particularly the OT. It purports to provide an answer as to how all those glorious prophecies of Israel’s future have yet to be fulfilled. And it is made to have relevance to current dire world events. The Dispensational view always did. I can remember when Mussolini was thought to be the “Beast” of the Book of Revelation, and, in the UK when the “Coop”[erative] stores started giving a financial reward based on the amount purchased, and registered its members with a “divi”[dend] number, some preachers declared that this was the “mark of the Beast”! Also, when the European Common Market, as it was then, looked as if it may acquire ten members, iit was seen as the ten kingdom revived Roman empire. Yes, the Dispensational scheme has always been “relevant.”

Now I do not want to again go over the reasons why it is faulty exegesis to see the OT prophecies being fulfilled in the existence of Israel today. This has been covered in my paper Does the nation of Israel have a distinct and separate future from the Church in the Kingdom of God? This paper can be found at www.apocalipsis.org/Israel.htm. From the Home Page, click on Eschatology Articles, and down the page find the list of articles by Alan Nairne. It is equally faulty exegesis to see them as yet to be fulfilled upon the platform of a “revived Roman Empire”. But I want to consider the matter of the true relevance of the Book of Revelation. The true relevance of the Book must apply to those believers to whom it was written. We have no difficulty in agreeing this in relation to the seven letters to the churches in chapters two and three. But the Futurist scheme of interpretation, particularly the Dispensationalist expression of it, projects everything from chapter four into the still (possibly) yet distant future! In other words, the Book, apart from the letters to the Churches was irrelevant to the original addressees. I think we need to take a long hard look at that idea, and see whether it is likely that this was the intention of the Divine Author of the Book. How can that be so?

Problem #1 with the futurist interpretation – anachronism

I do not want to patronise my readers by explaining that the anachronism relates to the majority of the Futurist contents of the Revelation being out of place in time for its original readers. It is clear that its original readers were expected to understand that the events foretold were imminent. For in the very first chapter they are repeatedly informed that what is written therein “must shortly take place” (1:1), “the time is near” (1:3), and “…things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall take place after these things” (1:19) indicate this to be so. Within the letters themselves the admonition is repeated, “I am coming to you quickly” (2:16), “that hour which is about to come….I am coming quickly” (3:10, 11). Again at the end of the Book, “things which must shortly take place…..I am coming quickly”, “the time is near”, “I am coming quickly” (22:6,7,10,12 and 20). The centre section of the book is thus bracketed between these time constraints at the beginning and the end.

From this straightforward clear non-symbolic language it is evident that John expected the events which he was to describe were to soon take place, and to make it imperative for his readers to suitably respond.

This point is absolutely crucial for a correct understanding of the book. For, if we can know how the original addressees understood the writings, then there is a sound chance that we too shall be successful. But if, as is the case with so many attempts to understand the Book, that principle is abandoned, what hope is there of gaining a correct understanding of it? After all, if a communication is specifically addressed to a party or parties, then one would expect the totality of that document to be applicable to the original referents, unless there is a note within it to the contrary. With the exception of a part of chapter 20, in this case there is none.

Let us consider further this matter of the original addressees – the seven churches in Asia. Here are churches beginning to undergo severe persecution, which is yet to intensify, receiving a letter from the Apostle John, which he intended to forewarn, to strengthen and comfort them through it all - are they to understand that over eighty percent of it is not for them, but for the Lord’s people some millennia in the future! What a mockery! They cannot even inherit the promised blessing (1:3) for it is not only in the reading that the blessing comes but in the heeding also of the things written therein. They cannot do it if most of it is for a single generation at the end of time. But this is common futurist methodology.

Problem #2 in interpretation – futurism itself

Futurism ignores this cardinal principle of interpretation, which is that we should understand what the original recipients of a document understood of it, and how it applied to them. For, the Dispensational system states that from chapter four all is applicable to a period a little before the Second Coming of Christ – at present nearly two millennia remote from the original addressees! As I said above, if that was really the way it was to be understood, one would have expected there to be some note within the document to that effect, but there is none. Moreover, this is not just a paragraph or two, or even a chapter or two. No less than eighteen of its twenty two chapters are thus siphoned off! No wonder, despite prophetic charts, and an avalanche of books published, its contents still tend to be regarded as imminent against each successive generation’s Middle Eastern background, and each time it has proved abortive.

We need to seriously ask ourselves again, since under this system of interpretation the original referents are not considered, how can it be possible to understand the meaning of the Book? The original addressees would be just as ignorant of its meaning as we are, if they had adopted the same futurist interpretation. This is an approach to sacred literature that we would never think of applying to the secular realm. And that by people who profess to honour the word of God. Futurism asserts that the time reference is for the end times in blatant rejection of the repeated references to the contrary.

If only such futurist believers can free their minds from the bondage of prophetic charts purporting to set out the politics and future history of Israel and the nations after the rapture of the Church, they would see the utter futility of projecting everything from chapter four onward in the Book into the yet future. Indeed, not only of doing so to the OT and the Apocalypse, but of doing the same also with so much of the NT.

Some time ago I thought I would examine Dispensationalist John Walvoord’s exposition of Daniel to show the unnecessary exegesis of projecting the majority of Daniel’s prophecies into the future. I got only so far as chapter seven, and the sheer repetitiveness of pointing out the needlessness of keep deferring the outworking of prophecy to an end times yet future to ourselves persuaded me to finish at that point. For the original readers, of course, much of it was well into the future. In fact, Daniel was told to “seal up” the revelation given to him. But there is much that Walvoord projects into the end times that is needless to do so. That paper also may be consulted on the previously mentioned website.

Problem #3 with a futurist interpretation – literalism

If we ask ourselves why there is this predisposition of Futurists to project so much into an end times yet future to ourselves, the answer is simple. Futurism is the daughter of literalism. Whether the Old or New Testaments are read, there is a failure to recognise prophetic imagery. Dispensationalists have freely applied the dictum “literal unless absurd”. But clearly there are many prophetic Scriptures which give a non-absurd sense literally, but which are intended as symbolism.

To take the simple example of the words of the prophet Joel in chapter 2:28-32,

And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: ²⁹And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. ³⁰And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. ³²And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered. . . .”

This Scripture is quoted on the day of Pentecost by Peter as recorded in Acts 2:17-21. Peter states quite unequivocally that “this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. The Dispensationalist accepts that this refers to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, but because he is looking for a literal fulfillment of the cataclysmic signs in the heavens, and because they did not occur, in his superior wisdom he projects the whole prophecy as yet to be “fully” fulfilled in a yet future day. If only he would take his literalism to the text itself, “This is that . . .” The option to project anything of the prophecy into the future is not open to him. We must recognize this as prophetic imagery. The collapsing universe is a very common example of this symbolism. We find its use in Isa.13:9-11, 19; 24:19-23; 34:4-5; and Ezek.32:7-8, 11-12. The prophecies relate to judgment upon these nations. The collapsing universe is a picture of the fall of governmental authorities – rulers and nations (cp.Gen.1:16). It is a picture of the disintegration of the normal order of things. When judgment came upon these nations, did those signs appear in the heavens? Of course not. If such unusual phenomena had occurred it would have appeared in contemporary records. Then why expect it to be so in the future, especially when Peter says, “this is that. . . .”?

Just think of it. If prophecy after prophecy in the OT is treated in this unbiblical way, what a mishmash of a result we finish with! And this is precisely what has happened in the futurist/Dispensational interpretation. Perhaps I should at this stage reassure my readers that I am literalist and futurist enough to believe in the Second Coming!

This brief survey of the main problems of interpretation with a futurist scheme must suffice.

The third major system of interpretation of the Book of Revelation is termed “Preterism” from the Latin preter, which means “past.”

I have already shown how imperative it is that we try to understand how the original readers understood the Book which had been written to them. I have shown, also, that they were to understand that the events referred to were to occur within a very short time. So we shall need to look broadly at the evidence that the themes of the book are events, for the original readers, which they were to soon experience.

C. Preterist

The purpose of the Apocalypse is not only to prepare believers in the early 60’sAD for persecution which had already begun, but to comfort them in it, and to encourage them by picturing the phases of judgment that were to be poured out upon the apostate Nation that was largely responsible for their persecution.. This ends in the Gospel triumphing by the destruction of their foes as seen by the razing of the Temple to the ground, the destruction of the Israeli nation, their dispersion to the ends of the earth, and the Gospel being preached triumphantly and accepted widely.

I cannot impress upon my reader the importance of this series of events. As an ex dispensationalist and futurist I must confess that I still have to think twice, as it were, to fully grasp the importance of these events which took place in 70AD. The reason for this is because the events surrounding the Cross of Christ are largely the last significant events to be fulfilled in prophecy according to Dispensational teaching. It is a matter of thankfulness that such believers are staunchly supportive of the radical importance of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. From a redemptive standpoint these histories of our Lord Jesus Christ are absolutely central and pivotal in the Divine revelation. Those events were “once for all” as the book of Hebrews tells us. They can neither be repeated, nor added to, nor improved upon. But it is concerning the events of the day of Pentecost and onward that our Dispensationalist friends’ emphasis goes wrong. In their teaching the Church has no continuity with what went before. The prophets did not see the Church in the “valley” between Christ’s first Coming and the events leading up to the second. The events of 70AD are hardly given a thought. Thank God for Pentecost. I, myself, am not ashamed to bear the label “charismatic”. But annually at “Pentecost” (“Whitsun” in UK at least) I get tired of hearing from the pulpit that it is THE birthday of the Church. This arises from the mistaken notion that there was no Church before then. I agree that the Nation of Israel was not the Church. But the church was contained within the nation. Again, may I refer you to my paper previously referred to? No, the Church had existed as the “remnant”, as the true “seed of Abraham” – which WE now are (Gal.3). So Pentecost was “a” “coming-of-age” birthday of the Church.

Moreover, these cosmic events of Easter and Pentecost were not the last subjects of prophecy relating to the coming of Christ to be fulfilled. Matthew 24 and parallels assure us of that. Of course, Dispensationalists know this, but the significance of the destruction of Jerusalem just gets lost in their Futurist theology.

We need to understand that the Church could never be recognised other than as a sect of Judaism as long as Judaism, epitomised by the glorious Temple in Jerusalem, still stood. Moreover, right from the beginning the Jews persecuted the Church, and used the Romans to implement their foul purposes, even as they did in respect of the death of their Messiah. The title “synagogue of Satan” was not lightly applied by our Lord to those who opposed the Church in Smyrna. He refers to them as instruments of the Devil himself. It was therefore essential that this edifice which represented the apostate nation be destroyed, and its peoples dispersed, so that the true people of God could be recognised for who they really are. The TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD (Gal.6:16) includes the remnant of the Jews and Gentiles. Is it any wonder that Futurists who conceive of a future for the nation of Israel distinct and separate from the Church, have the utmost difficulty in grasping these points? Yet, if they are not grasped the significance of 70AD and the years immediately preceding it will be lost, and the reason why Jesus spent so much time in teaching the disciples about it (Matt.24 and parallels) will be lost, and the purpose of the Book of Revelation will be an enigma instead of a “revelation” of Jesus Christ.

At the risk of appearing to digress from our study of the Book of Revelation, I feel that I need to consolidate what I have said above by showing as briefly as possible the main lines of thought from the book of the prophet Daniel in respect of his prophecy of the “70 weeks”, and its connection with Matthew 24, and the Book of Revelation. I will take that risk.

Section B – Toward An Answer

I. THE APOCALYPSE – ITS LINKS WITH DANIEL AND MATTHEW

Unquestionably, because expositors have failed to apply consistently the principle that documents with addressees should be understood in relation to these recipients, and have hived off into the speculative future, these Scriptures have become not only areas of contention, but also the happy hunting ground of every crank who has put pen to paper.

I shall have to resist, therefore, the temptation to fight every battle over again to establish what I believe to be the correct application, and stick to those points that directly affect my theme.

A. Daniel

Matthew’s link with Daniel is to be found in chapter 24 verse 15,

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: . .

Identifying the “abomination of desolation” is not difficult. If the three Synoptic accounts in Matthew 24, Mark 14 and Luke 21 are placed in parallel, it will be seen that Luke’s account exactly parallels that of Matthew at verses 15 and 16. There, in Luke’s Gospel in verses 20 and 21 we find,

. . . .And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. ²¹Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains. . .

The events clearly refer to the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by the Roman armies in 70AD. Their idolatrous banners would be seen as an “abomination that desolates”. Moreover the verses from Daniel are to be found embedded in his prophecy of the “70 weeks” in chapter 9 verse 24ff.

²⁴Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. ²⁵Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.²⁶And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

As tempting as it may be to discuss the starting point of the 70 “weeks”, or 490 years, it is quite unnecessary for my purpose, since I am concerned with what happened during the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks and anything thereafter. The twenty-fourth verse is important because it tells us the purpose of the prophecy, and explains what should happen within the seventy weeks. Although this prophecy led many of the godly in Israel to be looking for the coming of Messiah at about the time that He appeared (cf. Anna and Simeon Luke 2:25ff.), until Jesus revealed in His Olivet prophecy the significance of these verses, the outworking could not be known beforehand. Daniel was told that all was “. . .concealed and sealed until the end time” (Dan.12:9). It should be noted that the “end time” for Daniel is not the same as the “end time” for us. So let us look, therefore, at the six features of verse 24.

1. “…to finish the transgression.” The prophecy was given to Daniel in answer to his distress over Israel’s sin, and his supplication to the Lord concerning it. I link this phrase with that in Matthew 23:29ff.

²⁹Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, ³⁰And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. ³¹Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. ³²Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. ³³Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? ³⁴Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: ³⁵That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. ³⁶Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. ³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. . . .³⁸Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.